Digital three-dimensional manufacturing, also known as digital additive manufacturing, is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. Three-dimensional printing is an additive process in which one or more printheads or ejector heads eject successive layers of material on a substrate in different shapes. The substrate is supported either on a platform that can be moved three dimensionally by operation of actuators operatively connected to the platform, or the printhead or printheads are operatively connected to one or more actuators for controlled movement of the printhead or printheads to produce the layers that form the object. Three-dimensional printing is distinguishable from traditional object-forming techniques, which mostly rely on the removal of material from a work piece by a subtractive process, such as cutting or drilling.
Manufacturing of a finished product often involves forming many smaller parts that are processed and then assembled together into the finished product. Additionally, large quantities of identical parts are commonly manufactured at the same time. As post-processing and assembly of printed parts becomes more automated, management of families of related parts becomes a challenge. What is needed is a method of managing families of printed parts that is easily integrated into automated and high-speed post-processing methods.